Venerable Ypomoni in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

It is a remarkable case, that of the princess who later became an empress, then the mother of an emperor, and afterward a nun: Helena Dragas, who later became Ypomoni. For it is certainly not easy for someone to leave behind honors and glory — even in a period of decline — and shut herself up in a monastery, living as an ordinary mortal and carrying out even the most difficult and humble obediences. This reveals an exceptional humility, which is the necessary condition for receiving the grace of God in abundance.

Even more remarkable, however, is that she not only became a nun, but attained such heights of holiness that our Church recognized them and proclaimed her sanctity. The miracles recorded through her interventions, both in earlier times and in more recent years, are many. One example is the case of a taxi driver who, only a few years ago on this very day, was transporting a simple nun from Athens to Loutraki. During the journey he revealed his problem — skin cancer. He received her blessing, and it acted immediately as a cure for his illness. When, after a brief stop, he looked for her, she had vanished. No one around the place where he had stopped had seen her. He later recognized her in the doctor's office he visited, because the doctor had an icon of Saint Ypomoni hanging on the wall.

Holy Martyr Theodosia in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. This sacred and holy maiden was from Tyre. At the age of eighteen she was arrested by the pagans and thrown into prison to be tried, because she openly confessed her faith in God. When the judges had already taken their seats, she was brought before the governor Urbanus, who ordered her to offer sacrifice to the idols. When she refused and would not be persuaded, he commanded that she be tortured with severe blows to her sides and breasts, and that they continue even to the bones and inner organs, for he saw that despite the relentless tortures she endured everything in silence. Realizing that she still had life within her, he addressed her again, urging her to sacrifice. Then the Saint looked him straight in the eyes and, opening her mouth as much as she could, said to him with a smiling face: "Why are you deceived, man? Do you not know that now I have been counted worthy to have communion with the martyrs of God?" The governor, realizing that he had become the laughingstock of the young woman, grew angry and ordered that she be tortured even more severely than before. Afterwards he had her cast into the sea currents, within which she received her blessed end.

2. According to the customary practice of many hymnographers, the name of a saint becomes the occasion for theological reflection. The Saint commemorated today bears the name Theodosia, and therefore, as the Holy Hymnographer notes, “You have become a gift of God, wise martyr Theodosia, shining through your contest and through the radiant beams of virginity, setting ablaze the minds of all who ever honor you in faith” (Kathisma).

Prologue in Sermons: May 29

A Lesson for the Miserly

May 29

(A story from the Leimonarion concerning almsgiving.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some wealthy people may be called people of calculation. These are those who, when their financial affairs are going well, are willing enough to help the poor; but as soon as their business declines even a little, they stop helping the needy and say: “What can we do? When income is abundant, it is no hardship to share some of it. But when times are difficult, should we begin spending our capital on the poor? Who would agree to that?” And so the poor leave such people empty-handed, and whether they will ever receive help from them again, God alone knows.

But what then? Do such calculations actually help the miser increase his prosperity? Do they assist him in enlarging his wealth? Hardly. The frequent bankruptcies of the miserly, together with the other lessons sent to them from above, convince us of the opposite. To confirm this truth, we offer the following account. 

Synaxis of the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God

 

Synaxis of the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God (Feast Day - May 28)

According to a Slavic tradition of unknown origin, the story associated with the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God dates back to the year 304 AD, when the city of Nicaea was under siege by an Arabic army under Amer. One of the soldiers of Amer, whose name was Constantine, saw an Icon of the Theotokos and threw a stone at it. Then he began to trample it underfoot. That night, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to the soldier who had perpetrated this sacrilege and said: "You have insulted me most grievously, and it shall lead to your death." The following day, during the battle, the impious soldier was struck in the head with a stone and fell down dead.

As we go on to read, this event was later mentioned by the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Synod that took place in Nicaea in 325, and they ordained that the following hymn, "Your womb became a Holy Table, bearing the Heavenly Bread, Christ our God; from whom everyone who eats does not die, as the Nourisher of all things has said, O Birth-Giver of God," should be sung before the desecrated Icon of the Mother of God, which later became known as the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God.

Though this is the traditional story of the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God, the fact of the matter is that it is not accurately told. This can be most easily determined by the fact that there was no Arab invasion of Niceae in the fourth century. Fortunately with a little research we can determine what the actual story behind the Nicene Icon of the Mother of God is, at least for the most part.

Holy Hieromartyr Eutychios of Melitene in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Eutychios, or Eutyches, shone forth as a true laborer of Christ and servant of the Church, both through his constant and fruitful teaching and through his blameless and edifying works. He was a vigilant and most skillful fisher of souls, and also their loving father, ready even to give his life for their safety and salvation. He was arrested and remained steadfast in our holy faith, and he received a martyr’s end: the tyrants cast him into the waters, and he was drowned in them.

2. The Holy Hymnographer dedicates many hymns to emphasize the Saint’s particular martyrdom — his drowning in the waters — while at the same time giving the spiritual interpretation of the tragic event: before his own drowning, he himself had “drowned” the senseless atheists through the power of his words, while by his death through drowning he also drowned the wicked devil, the “bodiless dragon.”

Prologue in Sermons: May 28

To Simple Folk

May 28

(A discourse about the shoemaker whom the emperor’s scribe found at midnight praying in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Chalkoprateia.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

To you, simple folk, our word shall be addressed, and this is what we shall say to you. In order to turn you away from the thought that one can be saved only in a monastery or in some desert, today we propose that you listen to an incident which happened to a certain inhabitant of Constantinople.

“One night,” he says, “I went to church to pray. At midnight I saw near it a man who, standing at the church doors, prayed for a long time and with tears. Then the church doors opened before him by themselves, and he entered in. After praying fervently in the church, he came out, and the church doors again closed behind him by themselves. Marveling at this vision, I followed him and learned where he lived.

A few days later I visited him and said: ‘On Friday I saw you praying in church, and I saw that the church doors both opened and closed before you by themselves; therefore I have come to you so that you might reveal to me your virtues, that I may learn to imitate them and through you obtain forgiveness of sins.’

Two Miracles of Saint John the Russian Recounted from an Encyclical Issued in 1978

 

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis standing over the sacred relic of St. John the Russian

Metropolitan Chrysostomos I of Chalkis, in his encyclical no. 1609/17-11-1978 addressed to the most reverend parish priests and the pious Christians of the Holy Metropolis, made known the following two miracles of Saint John the Russian.

1) “... Last winter, a Greek ship in the North Sea, heavily loaded with cargo, was sailing toward a port in the Low Countries. In the middle of the sea they were struck by a terrible cyclone. The radar stopped functioning. At any moment the ship was about to sink. The captain, an experienced sailor, saw clearly that there was truly no hope of salvation.

Someone had once told him that there exists an incorrupt saint, Saint John the Russian is his name, who grants whatever one asks of him with faith. The captain remembered this, and amid the storm of destruction he prayed to the Saint John unknown to him and said to him:

‘Great Saint of God, whom I have never known, tonight I pray to you, not to save myself, though I am the captain, not for the ship that costs millions, but I pray for these suffering sailors who left their homeland in order to support their poor families and who at this moment are drowning. Come, Saint of God, and hold the ship fast so that it may not be lost in the depths of the sea.’

Homily on the Ascension of the Lord (Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia)

Homily on the Ascension of the Lord 

By Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki

(Delivered in 2024)

“You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world”
(from the Apolytikion of the feast)

The event of the Ascension, although it constituted the end of the Lord’s presence on earth, in essence constitutes the beginning of the reality of the Church and of the grace of God within the souls of the faithful. Let us carry our minds a little beyond the historical event, to that place where the soul is truly refreshed, where reality truly endures, where it never ends and always leaves its deep imprint within our soul, becoming the true celebration and the genuine feast.

After the Resurrection, the Lord takes the disciples and begins to initiate them into the mystery of the Resurrection, to reveal Himself to them and gradually to draw them into dialogue with Himself as the Risen One. And while only a few days earlier their senses had perceived the Cross and the confirmed death, He begins to open their minds and to appear to them, as the Evangelist says, “in another form” (Mark 16:12). After thoroughly assuring them through proofs of the truth of His Resurrection, He gradually leads them outside Jerusalem, to the Mount of Olives. There He begins to ascend into heaven, giving them His blessing, separating Himself from them, while they, astonished, behold the now final visible separation from the Lord. Two angels say to them: “Do not be amazed; He who now blesses you and ascends into heaven is not merely the risen teacher, but the true Christ, God Himself.”

The First Ecumenical Synod: Description and Significance (St. Nektarios of Aegina)

The First Ecumenical Synod: Description and Significance

By St. Nektarios, Metropolitan of Pentapolis

Arius

Arius was born in Libya around the middle of the third century A.D. He studied in Alexandria and became a follower of Origen, of Meletius, and of Lucian the Presbyter, head of the Antiochian School. His broad education, his philosophical training, and his skill in the knowledge of the divine Scriptures made him very well known, while his grave appearance, his somewhat proud manners, his imposing stature, and his handsome countenance inspired in all respect and sympathy. At first, after leaving Meletius, he was ordained deacon of the Church of Alexandria by its Bishop Peter.

From this period already there appears the strength of his character and his persistence in his convictions. Later, when Peter of Alexandria denounced the associates of Meletius and did not accept their baptism, Arius rose up for the first time, reproaching what had been done and protesting against this measure of his Bishop. Consequently, he was expelled from Alexandria. But afterwards, when the mild-mannered Achillas succeeded the deceased Peter, Arius, having asked forgiveness, was received back into the Church, and in the year 312 was ordained Presbyter.